Dealing with Immorality

Homosexuals are seeking full acknowledgement of same sex marriage, and numerous celebrities have announces a homosexual lifestyle. At the same time, divorce rates among professing Christians has reached an all time high. Most couples today don’t bother with a legal ceremony because it is so openly declared that marriage is obsolete.

Despite huge amounts of energy and money by conservative and religious groups to counteract the trend, the problems have continued to escalate. I believe that the main reason stems from the fact that even as religious leaders pushed for a valid standard, they dropped the ball as far as showing why the standard applied. Even the smallest child has trouble with “because I said so.” Sadly, that is all most people have been taught.

Telling a child not to touch the stove means very little to him. If however you tell him it is hot, then if he understands hot as meaning it will cause pain, he has a reason for not touching it. If he doesn’t understand the word hot, it still means nothing. To tell him “I’ll smack your hand if you touch it,” means there will be no consequences unless I find out. People aren’t stupid. They want to know why. Forbidding behavior with out a meaningful reason implies it is just a control thing and encourages disobedience. The problem is amplified when it is obvious that others seem to be enjoying the forbidden behavior.

Forbidding people to engage in sexual sin has little impact when they see others indulging and bragging about it. Telling them God forbids it is meaningless as a reason, unless they have a strong fear of God’s judgment. The implication is that God or we are trying to keep them from experiencing something good. That approach led to the sexual revolution in the 1960’s and has led us to where we are now. Even most pastors and church members don’t appear to understand the scriptural teachings about marriage. How can they teach young people?

Genesis 2:21-25 is the basis of all biblical teaching about marriage and sex. “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
\
Jesus used this passage for his teaching in Matthew 19:3-6. “The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

It is God that joins the couple together, and nor the legal ceremony. There is an actual bonding process which takes place, performed by God, and no human authority is free to dissolve it. Not the Government, not the Church, not the parents, and not the couple. No man can put it asunder. The bond is permanent. That raises another question.

“They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.” (Matthew 19:7-9)

Under the Mosaic Law, divorce and re marriage were permitted, but Jesus says that even in those cases, adultery occurred. God overlooked it because he is a forgiving God and understands the wickedness of human beings. It has never been acceptable behavior. The law called for the execution of those who committed adultery without a formal separation, both man and woman in Leviticus 20:10. I Corinthians 7:10-11 states that Christians are not to divorce, but if they feel forced to do so, they are still not free to remarry. They are not to still be living under that wicked nature that the Law made allowance for. They have the Lord’s spirit rather than that of the unsaved person.

Paul referred to Genesis 2:22-25 in explaining the bonding that God causes in I Corinthians 6:15-17. “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.”

God causes the bonding or joining any time the sexual union takes place. This includes even sexual relations with a prostitute. The bond cannot be broken. No matter who else they marry or mess around with, that bond will always be there to interfere with their relationship to another. This is probably the single biggest factor in the current divorce rate. One or both parties have other bonds still tying them to former partners that prevent full development of a new relationship.

Deuteronomy 22:22-29 applies the same standard to cases of rape. If it was consensual sex and one was married or committed to marriage, both man and woman are to be executed. If it was rape, then if she was married to or committed to another, the rapist was to be executed. If she was free, the rapist was to consider her as his wife and support her fully for the rest of her life. This minimized the interference of bonding with others by breaking the bonds of innocent victims.

"If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.

But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die: But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.

If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.” (Deuteronomy 22:23-29)

In cases of rape, the rapist could never divorce his victim. In cases of consensual sex, marriage was also obligatory. “And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.” (Exodus 22:16-17) The Father might refuse to allow his daughter to live with the guy, but he could not prevent the marriage. She was not free to marry someone else. Charges of sexual sin were serious, and if proven were grounds for execution. Making false charges of sexual impropriety was a serious crime. As Deuteronomy 22:13-21 makes very clear.

If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him; And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.”

The importance of the bonding also comes out in God’s instructions about going back to the first mate after living with someone else in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. “When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.

And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”

Failure to recognize God’s authority in these matters brings our nation under God’s judgment. Only by making people aware of the consequences of sexual sin will most people begin to avoid it. As long a s it is just our opinion, or even God’s, there is little incentive to stop, and especially for those who have little respect for God. Scriptural teaching of our responsibilities should affect those who are serious about wanting to please God.